Thousands of rocket attacks perpetrated against the Sderot area in recent years have murdered several Israelis and maimed others. Numerous more citizens have been internally damaged in a form that would make the KGB and Stasi proud.

“On the last day of the Passover holiday, I slept fitfully, feeling anxious and despondent as my own children prepared to go back to school. Their walk to school was accompanied by rocket alerts and distant explosions, which have long provided the soundtrack of their childhoods.”

It has been noted that every rocket attack is attempted murder. That is true, but I think the perpetrators feel victorious whatever the result. Do you think Hamas doesn’t know that its aggression has caused widespread anxiety, depression, hypertension, increased miscarriages, and other sickening phenomena? There is no such thing as a rocket attack without victims, because each siren and blast re-traumatizes brains and bodies.

And why have so many citizens been neurologically and physiologically wrecked this way? Because one of the world’s strongest states chose to let them be wrecked by Islamist neo-Nazis as that state pretends to learn from the Holocaust. Showing blasphemous contempt in this regard, Hamas launched rockets on Yom HaShoah in 2008 and this year.

Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt”lwrote in the context of Tisha B’Av that “the enemies of the Jewish people are the enemies of Ha-Kadosh Barukh Hu.” May an authentic Jewish government rise in Israel that enforces this truth and enables the citizens of Sderot to heal.

Menachem Ben-Mordechai has written for numerous publications on subjects ranging from Israel and Latin America to the sport of powerlifting and life insurance. He has also coached elite powerlifters as well as beginners. Menachem's other writing can be found under the name Myles Kantor.